for ageing concerns
cleansing beauty oil premium a/o is the #1 selling shu uemura cleansing oil in the world. a premium anti-oxidant skin purifier that thoroughly cleanses the skin while protecting it against internal and external aggressions associated with skin ageing.
contains catechin, derived from green tea, botanical oils, deep sea water, and a calming aroma based on watermelon, jasmine, and sandalwood
the formula has anti-oxidant properties, and helps to hydrate and soothe skin.
it also naturally provides moisture to skin, and helps to enhance skin transparency and improves skin quality.

Today I’m going to review the iconic Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil. I’ve been an avid user of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil since 2008, ever since I first started foraging into makeup. I couldn’t remember why but all I know I’ve been using their cleansing oil for ages and have repurchased countless time. I’ve tried the balancing (the one in yellow) and fresh (pink one) formulation and now I got itched to try Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O. Why so? Pardon me if I’m so shallow, just because it’s green! LOL. There are few more variants of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil and I intend to try them all. It’s baffling how I just started trying the rest of the line while I’ve been religiously faithful to the yellow one haha.

Shu Uemura Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O

I believe recently there’s a new formulation Shu Uemura conducted on their cleansing oil. Now when I checked their website, the only green cleansing oil I can find is anti/oxi skin refining anti-dullness cleansing oil. I got mine from duty free shop, travel-exclusive 100ml bottle. My sister got me the big-ass bottle few months ago and I noticed the different name and the new one comes in slightly lighter color. I shall do comparison post once I try the new one.

Instructions how to use cleansing oil

I’ve been incorporating double cleansing method to my PM skincare regimen yonks ago. What I do is removing my makeup with cleansing oil, including waterproof eye makeup, and continue with regular facial wash. It’s easy peasy to use this great stuff. Just use 1.5-2 pumps on dry face (depending on how heavy the makeup I wear. Do note that the instruction recommends to use 3-4 pumps but I think 2 pumps is abundant already), spread all over my face and neck, massage it in circular motion, emulsify with water, continue massaging until all makeup breaks down and rinse. I take extra precaution on eye area as it’s very delicate, you don’t want to be too harsh and give yourself fine lines, or worse crowfeet. I don’t usually use separate eye/lip makeup remover because I find using cleansing oil is sufficient enough. When I first did it, some of the product got into my eye. It didn’t sting, but my vision got a little cloudy for a moment. However, it’s gone after a good rinsing with water. If you had very sensitive eyes, though, do skip this and use separate eye makeup remover. You’ve been warned lol.

Cleansing Beauty Oil Premium A/O is significantly thicker than balancing or porefinist (what the fresh one is called now). It’s still quite runny nonetheless so spreading it allover the face isn’t a problem. The scent is very mild and relaxing, whilst the yellow one is always slightly more refreshing. I can definitely detect faint scent of green tea. I actually like it more than the yellow one, I don’t know why I took so long to get out of my comfort zone and venturing into other line of Shu Uemura Cleansing Oil. I love how it leaves my skin visibly more moisturized compared to the other two I’ve tried. Initially I felt it was too oily, but I get used to it after using it for a few days. I can safely say I’m a big fan now. Oh who am I kidding, I’m a worshipper haha.

The 100ml bottle lasts me for almost 2 months with regular use. I found that the 450 ml bottle usually lasts for about 6 months. So for such asking price, it’s not that expensive. The initial outlay is but not so in the long run. Shu Uemura Cleansing Oils contain mineral oil, so please don’t splurge right away on the big bottle if you were unsure whether you may be allergic to them or not. I’d suggest buying the sample bottles which comes with all variants, try them first and decide which one you like, or rather which one your skin prefers. I am a huge fan of this so I’ll continue use this as long as Shu Uemura continues producing it (keep producing it, pretty please?).

On a slightly related not (lol!), some of you might ask why am I getting the travel-sized bottle when I’m a religious user of cleansing oil. I just wanted to try it out, even though I know the previous ones I tried didn’t give me any problem, I still think getting a smaller version as a precaution, you never know what different formulation might do to your skin. Turns out I’m hooked lol. Also, the 100ml bottle is great for travelling, the pump mechanism is superb, I never came across a faulty one throughout the last 6 years I’ve been using Shu Uemura cleansing oils. Every bottle also comes with a plastic sort of seal you can insert into the neck of the pump so it won’t spill during traveling. I also put one bottle (the travel exclusive set comes in 2 bottles) at my mum’s. If I chucked the big bottle my mum will scream at me for overcrowding her bathroom haha, just kidding. All in all, it’s a great stuff. Enough said :P.

Yep another acquisition 😀 The package arrived last Monday but as usual the hubby forgot to inform me. What I got is mainly handmade soaps and brush cleanser from Moporie.

I have few transactions with Moporie before and they all went smooth. Recently I found out Erie (who’s the sweet lady behind the online shop) is into soap-crafting. I have seen several of her products and I was really intrigued. My skin is getting drier as I age, trust me I can tolerate sandpaper back when I was teenager, but now it’s like sahara. My recurring eczema doesn’t help either. Erie claims that all of her handmade soaps are free of SLS which is known to dry skin out. She also came up with Brush Best Friend Soap intended for no other than our precious brushes. Besides, look at those beautiful soaps! Who can’t resist such pretty goodies?? LOL.

The Soap Corner by Moporie

So what do I get? I ordered 2 bottles of BBFs (gosh it’s brush BFFs!! lol), I intend to give one to my sister so she can start taking care of her brushes, she’s mighty lazy when it comes to cleaning up her brushes. I also got myself Yuzu Silk Soap (which I used straight away, review will come up later), (from top left clockwise) Sweet Blooms Soap, Musk Silk Soap, Rainbow Soap, Coffee Soap, Black Raspberry & Vanilla Soap, Strawberry Milk Soap, and Calendula Breezes Soap. If you noticed, there’s additional soap in the center picture. That and Black Raspberry & Vanilla Soap are extras from Erie. Very sweet right? I can’t wait to try them all out, but of course it’s gotta be one by one. The presence of these soaps definitely makes me excited whenever I’m going to shower. I will review them all for sure :D.

Signing off now..

P.S. Fellow Indonesians, we’re experiencing lots of harpitnas (hari kejepit nasional lol). What did you do or plan to do? Happy Holidayssss

Disclaimer: I am not affiliated to Moporie and all the items are purchased by yours truly, except the extras of course 😛

Just sampling is a series where I review products on a glance, meaning the products I tried from not-so-generous samples (lol!). Pretty much just reviewing on the surface.

I came across Juara Skincare from my beauty box subscription ages ago, it was Lolabox if I’m not mistaken. The sample sachets came with a cute brown pouch which I still use up to now. Juara in Indonesian means winner or champion. At first I thought Juara Skincare is a local brand. After some googling turned out it’s a US-based company. One of the founders is Indonesian (yay to Indonesians!). The inspiration behind their skincare line comes from Indonesian botanical ingredients, they researched and formulated their products in the US. Apparently they claim to be 100% vegetarian and paraben-free.

This body creme boasts to have contained candlenut, which they claim to have high content of fatty acids to help fighting dry skin. The sachet I received was sooooo small I could only use it once, all over my body. The scent was very pleasant, mild and relaxing, I actually loved how it smells. The texture was pretty light but it moisturized my skin well and left my skin velvety smooth. It retails for USD35 for 213g tube. I believe Juara Skincare is available locally in major cities, I may ask someone to get a tub for me. That’s how much I like it :P.

As you can see this moisturizer contains candlenut, avocado, rice and black tea. It’s supposed to hydrate and help us women fight aging :P. Texture-wise it’s a cream moisturizer, a little on the lighter side. The sample I received gave me 6 uses. The moisturizer absorbed pretty quick, left my skin moisturized well throughout the day. However there is this little oily residue I don’t like after application. Maybe it’s just me who’s used to gel moisturizer. I had this nagging feeling that my makeup would slid down on top of this moisturized due to its slightly oily feeling, but thankfully it didn’t. They recommend to mix this moisturizer with matte foundation to create a dewy finish but I didn’t try it. Juara Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturizer retails at USD 49 for 120ml.

Yet another rice-inspired skincare from Juara. As you might have known, Asians love their rice, so I wasn’t too surprised it’s now included in a skincare lol. Juara Rice Facial Cleanser shared similar scent to that of Sweet Black Tea & Rice Facial Moisturize, lightly scented and calming. This facial cleanser was pretty thick but it lathered really well upon contact with water. My face immediately felt cleaned but a tad too dry for my liking. My skin is now on the drier spectrum so those who are blessed with normal skin should give this a try. At USD 25 for 134g it’s worth a shot as a little goes a long way. I only need a small dollop everytime I wash my face.

Overall, I recommend Candlenut Body Creme as among the three samples I received, this seems to be the superior one. The moisturizer and facial wash weren’t too bad either. I would love to try other products from Juara as it’s quite a promising brand.

I received a sample set of SK-II products from my mum few months ago when she switched her skincare to SK-II. Gosh she was my enabler, in the end I follow her suit after trying this set of SK-II key products. I have been incorporating these items in my daily skincare and I will be reviewing them one by one.

SK-II Facial Treatment Gentle Cleanser comes in a squeeze tube with small nozzle just like any other conventional facial wash. The one I’ve been using is the sample size which contains 15g worth of product. This sample lasts me for quite a while, about 2 weeks day and night use. It’s a creamy cleanser which lathers well, I usually just need a dollop and it’s already sufficient. It’s lightly fragrant, it doesn’t bother me but to those are sensitive might want to reconsider. I do find the scent to be calming, lavender-ish like scent, if such word even exist :P.

Performance wise it does clean up any makeup residue really well (note that I double cleanse every evening, I use cleansing oil prior to using facial wash). It doesn’t leave my skin feeling tight which most foamy cleanser does. Nonetheless I don’t think I will be splurging on facial cleanser knowing that there are many others perform just as well with just fractions of the price. It’s pretty hefty price tag just for something that goes down the drain. This cleanser is paraben-ladden for those who are concerned.

This foamy cleanser reminds me of Lancome Absolue Premium Bx Advanced Creamy Foam Cleanser. It lathers just as well, smells similar and does the same job. However I still can’t justify myself to pay so much just for something I rinse every other use (me being el cheapo). For now I will stick to my Kiehl’s Ultra Facial cleanser.